Deisgn of Gear lever on The COMET

[clevtrev]

My take on this. Put it in a vice, put a reasonable force on it, then heat it until it moves. Leave the force constant. Rub soap on the ally, when it goes dark brown/black it should be bending temp. Let it cool down slowly.

I think there are different techniques for different grades, and whether it's cast, forged etc, but this has worked for me on gear lever type thingys that can work/age harden.

Good Luck

H

ps Tom, I think the difference is, if you cool the metal too quickly it will go hard and brittle, cooling it slowly anneals it (I think) my materials tech course was a long time ago.

The first thing you need to know, is whether the aluminium is a heat treatable (also age hardeneable), or non heat treatable, before you can make any decisions. If the material has been heat treated, you will need to get it to 400-425 C for one hour, then cool at the rate of 15 C per hour until it reaches 300 C , out in open air after that. So, not so easy to do it properly, is it ?

 

[Howard]

Hi Trev

As I said, different techniques for different grades etc. The problem is we don't know what we're working with, and finding out ain't easy either.

H